On Oct. 20, Quebecers woke up to a rainy, windy morning, not ideal weather for a walk. That didn’t stop over 150,000 people of all ages and abilities from taking to the streets of 75 cities and towns across the province for the 10th annual Grand Défi Pierre Lavoie.

The Quebec City region will have three ministers in the new 26-member, gender-balanced Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) cabinet sworn in on Oct. 18. One of them, Louis-Hébert MNA Geneviève Guilbault, will be vice-premier, minister for public security and minister responsible for the Quebec City region.

Oct. 8 to 14 is Canadian Citizenship Week. A recent communiqué from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) declared that citizenship ceremonies during the week were being brought to “new heights.” The lofty venues include the CN Tower in Toronto, the Vancouver Lookout and the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) swept all but three of the 14 seats in the Quebec City region as François Legault’s fledgling party steamrolled to a majority government in the Oct. 1 election. The election also produced a two-seat breakthrough for the left-wing sovereigntist party Québec Solidaire (QS), a first in the capital city.

Behind the large stone building known as the Maison Péan, located at 59 Rue Saint-Louis, a field has lain abandoned for nearly 25 years. Its overgrown grass and bushes are an incomprehensible eyesore in the middle of Old Quebec.